Terrapin Tables

Roy and I are screwed. Dammit.

This theory and some supporting research has been around a while. Some think it's a halo effect type scenario, others think there's a substantive association due to differences in performance (why didn't the authors control a.k.a. condition on that?).

I don't see how being short would impact performance in an office. Is it more about perception of ability? i.e. short = young = inexperienced?

Although it may be hard to quantify an exact figure, I would agree with this study. And not only for height - I'd bet people of better-than-average builds, or the more handsome/pretty people simply do better in the workplace because they get more attention and respect from their superiors. Not that this is deliberate, but rather a consequence of how people think.

And who knows what other factors are involved. Remember, correlation does not equal causation, so it might not be a simple matter as "Hey, he's tall, therefore he's more likely to make more money". For example, it's possible that tall people have higher self-esteem, and because of that, they do better in school and in the workplace.

I suspect that height has something do to with the way you are treated in society from an early age and how that impacts self-confidence. Apparently there is a greater link between height as a teenager and earnings than height as an adult. So essentially the height has nothing to do with it, while the affect that one's height has on their personality is of some more consequence.

I make a lot of money because I have great tits.

Rick - that's what i was saying about a halo effect. many consider height, athleticism, beauty to be positive traits, and their evaluation of said people's performance in the workplace is affected by that. some think that tall people really do perform better in many work settings. others think that shorter people do. what little research i've read is pretty poorly done, with little thought of conditioning, covariates, omitted variables, etc. and good work with that link on correlation and causation. the association between ice cream and murder rate and that between babies being born and stork sightings (yay cartoons!) represent some of the more well known noncausal correlations.

I feel obligated to post to this one since my nickname is Shorty. Maybe it is different for short men than for short women. The short men I have known in the workplace have, for the most part, seemed like they were trying to make up for some inadequacy. Speaking for myself only, I have never felt like a lesser employee because I'm short. Growing up, I had problems in sports because no matter how good I was, coaches never thought I could play. In the workplace or school, though, I have always felt like people took me for my abilities. Whether I will get paid less in the end, who knows, and who really cares?